Friday, July 26, 2013 Inland Empire Champs Meet Recap (USAS)

I signed up for one and only one day of the champs meet this weekend, and chose the day with the 200 Fly. I also signed up for the 400 Free and 50 Free, since they were the next best choices, and I need to get my mileage worth for a day. No point of driving a few hours for one event, even if I do get to swim in twice!

Started my day at 4:30am with the alarmclock, on the road before 5:00am, and at the pool around 7:15am. Warmups, etc. then sat till my first event around 12:00noon. Drank plenty of water, it was HOT today down there, and no wind at all to help. I stayed in the shade, but even that was unbearable at times.

I shaved down for the meet, after having a week or so of taper and rest, plus squeezed my @ss into the FINIS Hydrospeed 2 jammer that I wore at Indy Nats last May. At least it still fits.

7 lane pool in Pasco, kind of strange, but it still has water. Top 7 in the A Final, 8-14 in the B Final.

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Prelims:

50 Free - 27.73- qualified me 13th place for finals
This was okay I guess. I went faster than a few weeks ago, but I still had a crappy breakout about 2 feet underwater and it just stopped me dead. I know why sprinters complain about things like this.

Not really a lot of rest after this before the Fly, but that's how I roll...

200 Fly - 2:26.11 - qualified me 2nd place for finals
A new adult best time for me!! and a new LMSC Record for 35-39
31.2 / 37.5
37.8 / 38.9
This felt unbelievably easy the whole way. I felt a little struggle on the final 20 meters or so, but it wasn't bad. Led my heat by a lot. The other circle seeded heat had the faster guy in it.

400 Free - 4:42.46 - a timed final, placed me 6th
Another adult best time for me!! and a new LMSC Record
1:07.2
35.7 / 37.0
36.3/ 36.3
35.8 / 33.7
I was a bit tired at the start of this race, but after the 200, I began preying on the swimmers in the two lanes next to me, as they began struggling a bit. I think the heat of the day got to a lot of people by this point, but I stayed well hydrated and was doing fine.
I ran down one kid who was way ahead of me, and almost caught the other one at the end, but he touched me out at the finish. Still a great time for me.

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Break between sessions:

I left in search of air conditioning since I had about an hour and a half till warmups for finals. Stopped at a quickie mart for Gatorade and an ice cream bar, then went for food. Found a McD's and stopped in for some nutrition overload. As I left, I refilled my Root Beer, and then realized there was a Baskin Robbins 31 flavors ice cream store down the road. Mmmmmmm... Root Beer Float, combo style from McD's soda, and Baskin Robbins "Triple Vanilla" ice cream. Sooooo good. I was soooo stuffed after all this, but it was worth it. I wasn't sure how finals would go though...

Finals:

50 Free - 29.50 (was seeded 13th, placed 14th)
I dove in SDK'd great, and broke out even worse than in prelims. Once I did get to the surface I sprinted a bit, then realized it was a lost cause and just shut it down to save energy for later...which wasn't a lot later at all...

200 Fly - 2:24.68 (seeded 2nd, placed 2nd) & lowered my record a little more!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD7Ne...ature=youtu.be
30.8 / 36.1
37.8 / 40.0
I went out strong, trying to stay within reach of the 17 year old next to me, praying that he might die a bit and I'd be within range to swoop in for the kill. He did die a bit on the final length, but so did I. It was a fun race to go out with though. My final USA-S race. Wow!!!

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I had a lot of fun swimming with Velocity Swimming this year, made a lot of friends, learned a lot, taught a lot, inspired a lot of people, and was inspired by the other's efforts as well. I will remember this time forever...and still wonder how Kirk can keep going with the kids in Seattle too!! Oh yeah...he doesn't have kids at home!

Comments

Great meet, richly earned training with the USAS team! You'll have fun dialing back the racing now too. With all your new-found spare time I suggest playing with your kids in the water and eating fast food afterwards. Kids love that and clearly you do too

Congratulations on the new record and PR's. I bet you had fun and as a result I suspect the kids you swim with will remember your last meet also. I can still recall a masters swimmer who swam with my team when I was a kid. I bet you will miss the kids, the training and the competition but you will now have lots of time with your own kids. Enjoy the extra time with your family and congrats on all your successes.

Thanks everyone. This truly was a memorable year for me, and a successful LCM season that I can be proud of. I'm not sure if I'll be able to equal these efforts any time in the near future, but who really cares, right?

Now, I'm just going to relax this week, and prepare for Longbridge Swim this weekend.

Nice job. Swimming with the kids is challenging and very rewarding on the waistline/scale front. Nice 200 fly, way to go out on top. Finals is a fun when you make it in your 30s. big or small meet.

Thanks Tom. I'll have to see how it is next summer, if and when I sign up for the LCM meets with USA swimming again, but as an unattached swimmer. I'm sure I'll do it, since the pool is less than 2 miles from my house.